An Adoption Update

Because many of you have been asking (which we love) how our adoption going, I've decided to do a little "adoption update" and fill you in on where we are in this process.

Previously I blogged that we have decided to adopt and were researching agencies.  Well, during our vacation this summer to Hong Kong we met a family who had just recently adopted their son. We immediately came home and researched the agency they used, "Chinese Children Adoption International." We loved what we read and as we watched their DVD we were both crying.  Needless to say, we have decided to adopt a child from China through CCAI. It is a wonderful agency and, so far, they have been great to work with.  Here is their website if you want to check it out:  http://www.chinesechildren.org/.

Our wonderful friends from Hawaii, Matt and Cyndi, recommended to us that we read the book Adopted for Life. As I read the first chapter in a coffee shop, I was in tears. It is an amazing story about a couple's journey to adopt and Christ's view of adoption. It helped to answer many of the questions and concerns I had.  I quickly finished it before Chris came home from deployment and now he is reading it. I highly recommend it! 

While Chris was gone on deployment, I was busy working on our home study binder.  This is a collection of papers that I needed to get organized before our home study visits began. Some of the paperwork included just making copies of things like our passports and drivers licenses, but others included getting background checks from every state we have lived in since the age of 18 (for Chris it is quite a few), asking friends to write reference letters, writing our life story, and so on. It was a lengthy process and at times difficult since Chris was gone.  Many emails were sent with "to-do-lists" and questions.

Our collection of paperwork.

A side view to show you the thickness of each binder.

Now that Chris is home for a few weeks and our binder is nearly complete, our next step was to do the actual home study visits.  This is when a social worker comes into your home, tours your house, and conducts a series of interviews.  This can be a pretty stressful event because most the time you do not know your social worker. However, we have been extremely blessed because our social worker, Janel, is a friend of mine from Bible Study.  It was like chatting with a friend every time she came over.  She talked to each of us about our childhood, marriage, family, and how we will parent.  So far we have done three visits and we will have one more to complete.

Our great social worker and friend, Janel.

The next step in the process is to get our home study approved. In the mean time I will be completing the contents for our second binder which is called the "dossier packet." This binder will enable us to adopt from China.

It is a very long and at sometimes stressful process, but we know in the end our outcome will be great!  It has been amazing to see God's hand guiding us throughout this process and just when we are getting tired, He sends us the encouragement we need! Chris and I can't thank you enough for your prayers, they mean everything to us.  And we love it when you ask us about the process, please don't ever feel like you are getting too personal.  We want to share this journey with you because it is awfully exciting for us!